Alright , defense holds.

JJ back on punt, good.

touchback and some kind of flag

You noticed that too? The T.V. station has a question asking who is the most important player on the Defense. My answer would be the 3-Tech DT, unfortunately we don't have a good player at that position. :(

Pass for 18 on 1st down.

Pass to Dreesen takes the ball to midfield.

Foster fumbles - Saints ball at midfield. :(

It was bound to happen sooner or later...

Wow. None of these RBs wants to stay on the field. That was horrible.

hard to get a lead with two turnovers to none. we'll see. without those could be even game, maybe.

Hmmm....Foster fumbling is not what you want to see, but at some point, they all fumble. The question becomes does it happen on the next drive, or does it not happen for 6 more games?

Ivory for no gain. 2nd and 10 coming up.

Bush for 4. Flag on the play. Holding Saints -10. Brings up 2nd and 19.

Bush gets about 5 on the delay. Brings up 3rd and 14.

Part of the reason foster cut back was because Winston couldn't control his assignment; a LB...

Deep pass from Daniel to Colston good for a big gainer. Ball at the Texan 30.

Ivory for no gain. 2nd and 10 coming up.

Thomas for -1. 3rd and 11 coming up.

Screen to Thomas goes all the way for 6 pts.

Saints 21, Texans 7

This is the first team defense getting carved up by a third string QB who's about 5'10". There is no pass rush, no attitude.

this is playcalling...When you have excellent playcalling you can put anyone in the game...There were 3 players wide open on the 25 yard pass by chase...

yep, 14 pts off turnovers.

Now Slayton back on the kick.

Since Cushing is going to be suspended at the beginning of the season, might we want to see if we can get some chemistry/continuity with another LB in the game by this point? I don't know if they are looking at Bentley over there at the SAM or not. Perhaps they could let Sharpton play the WILL and slide Diles over. I'm a bit concerned about the first 4 games of the season.

Slaton to receive the kickoff. Brings it back to the Texan 31.

6:28 left in the half.

Everytime, Payton sees Barwin in the game they just take advantage of his aggressiveness. Well at least one of these teams learned something about the other this week...

Casey and Dreesen in the lineup at the same time puts a smile on my face. Now, if I can just convince Kubiak to put Graham in there too for a 3-TE set. :D

Pass to Dreesen goes for big gainer. Ball at the Saints 40.

Foster for 5 but flag on the play. Holding on the Texan. Brings up 1st and 20. Ball at midfield.

Pass to AJ good for 7. Oooh, gets up slow...

Pass to KW caught but KW pushed out. 3rd and 13.

Dump to Foster gets about 9.

Rackers on for a 52 yard attempt.

FG is good. Eheh, bounces off the middle bar.

Saints 21, Texans 10

I'll take it. :p

3:44 left in the half.

Good lord. Bad tackling lets Robey take the muffed kickoff all the way back to the Saints 18.

Ball marked at the Saints 21.

1st down deep pass to Arrington good for 58 yards. Wow.

2 minute warning.

If Rackers stays, we now know what his range is under ideal conditions.

Shit tackling, no pass rush, no safety coverage, gentlemen, your 2010 Houston Texans defense. Against a third string quarterback.

Is that on Frank Bush? Would Ray Rhodes get more out of this group? Are the position coaches to blame like Kollar and Holland? Do we blame the GM for not getting better players? Whoever is at fault, that effort and execution is horrible.

2nd down and 9 at the Texans 30.

Ivory for 9 - gets the 1st down at the Texans 21.

Dump to the TE gets 4. Brings up 2nd and 6.

Saints run for 3. Brings up 3rd and 3.

Daniel can't find a receiver and runs it out at the Texan 5. 1st and goal.

Pass to TE Thomas goes for -1. 2nd and goal at the 6. :17 seconds left in the half.

Yes the team is not doing too well, but for the most part we are getting outcoached like crazy...

A. Smith, Okam, Mitchell...have been getting the super okie doke today...

I don't know that Buddy Ryan could do anything with the cast of clowns the team sends out masquerading as interior linemen. Pair that with Mario's disinterest and Barwin's over-eagerness that is a very, very vulnerable DL.

Pass good to the 1. Saints quickly line-up and spike it. 4th and goal with 4 seconds left.

Saints to go for it. Texans use a timeout.

Dump to the Fullback gets the TD.

Saints 28, Texans 10

Halftime.

The 3rd string QB hits the FB from Princeton to score a TD right before the half against the Texans Defense.

Again, this is an ass raping by a team run by intelligent football people on a team run by glue-eating, finger-painting imbeciles. If you think the future does not hold more of the same in the regular season then I think you are nuts.

First string Texans defense. All of them. Hell, there's even one guy, the BEST guy, who won't play the first quarter of the season because he trained too hard.

Thanks Arky for the comms. Out of pocket internet-wise atm.

Not looking forward to catching the replay of this one, yuck.

Go ahead and fast forward through the first half. Unless you want to see a couple of sub-six foot QBs carve up an NFL defense.

Halftime stats:

Passing: Schaub 8/10, 117 yards.

Rushing: Foster 6/28 yds.

Receiving: Dreesen 3/55, AJ 2/15, Foster 2/15, KW 1/32

Tackles: Wilson 11, Pollard 9, Cushing/Quin 7 each, Mario/Barwin/KJ 2 each

Time of Possession: Saints 21:25 (!), Texans 8:35

1st downs: Saints 18, Texans 6

3rd down conversions: Saints 6/9, Texans 0/3

Turnovers: Saints 0, Texans 2

To me this game shows the difference between a team with big proven NFL Olinemen and a puny Denver type Oline. I know that Kubiak was working on the running game to start the game, but with that puny Oline, he should have gotten away from it sooner than he did. And then of course, the fumbleitus had to rear it's ugly head again.

Nice return by Slaton on the kickoff. Brings it all the way back to the Saints 41.

DanO's 1st down pass goes inc. to a slipped down JJ.

Slaton up the middle for about 2.

Disappointing start of a practice game for sure. Too many mistakes.

Now we get to see what Texans second teamers can do.

Nice start of return by Slayton.

NO still has several starting D out there. hmm.

On 3rd and 8, DanO's deep pass to KW goes inc. in the endzone.

Texans to punt.

Saints fair catch at their 15.

Steve Slaton, Sean Payton. Steve Slaton, Sean Payton.

I blame that good Luziana cookin' the Texans probably got after practice. Awfully tough to play sharp football after that.

Well, they didn't get to play much in the first half........